It’s time to make resolutions to detox and declutter. We show you how to apply the same resolve to your PC life, speeding up your machine in the process.
Although many of us will have already broken our New Year’s resolutions, it’s not too late to change some old habits. One of our annual vows is to get outside and get into shape; since it’s far too cold to tackle that particular hurdle, turning our attention to home – and home technology – improvements makes sense.
A useful project is to give your PC some attention, sprucing it up and helping it to run smoothly. If nothing else, we suggest giving your computer a good clean to blow away all the cobwebs.
But it’s not just the PC’s exterior that could do with a tidy. Over time, installed programs, unused desktop shortcuts, saved files and downloaded data can bog down your system. Organising these files will go a long way to improving productivity when you need to work on a particular document.
The hard drive, temporary file folders and Windows Registry will also need a good sort out. Any programs and files you rarely use will serve only to slow down your PC. Get rid of anything that’s no longer needed, dump duplicate files and uninstall old programs you’d forgotten about; this will help recover the pep your PC once had.
Although these ideas sound pretty laborious, free downloads can do most of the hard work for you. We particularly rate Revo Uninstaller, which deletes programs and related junk files, and Easy Duplicate File Finder, which trawls your hard drive for duplicate files. Be sure to back up your machine before using any third-party tool or Windows utility, however.
These steps should make your PC boot up faster, but to speed up startup further you’ll need to investigate the programs that autoload when you turn on the PC. Boot-analysis tool Soluto offers advice on which programs can safely be removed from the boot-up process, and can even defer their launch until a later time.
Clean up and organise your desktop
Step 1. Digital documents should be stored in relevant folders, not on the desktop. Create a folder by right-clicking the desktop and choosing New, then Folder. Named ‘New Folder’ by default, you can rename your archive simply by typing over the highlighted text. Drag-and-drop relevant files into your folder.
Step 2. Remove unused shortcuts from the desktop – this won’t uninstall the programs they link to, but it will help to keep things tidy and organised. Next, right-click the desktop and choose View, ‘Auto arrange icons’. This will force your remaining shortcuts into a neat grid on the left side of the screen.
Comments
Tommie said: I downloaded Soluto and had all kinds of problems with it My computer slowed to a standstill I had a hard time removing it
stuart said: A simple solution is to download ccleanerrevo uninstaller and glary utilities all free and worth a go
Ian Daniells said: You mentioned Windows file finder Useful but slow I sometimes use good old DOS now known as Command Prompt To get a file listing of my personal folder and its subdirectories I type or paste this into the Command Prompt windowdir CIansFolderS gtCIansFolderfilestxtThat creates a text file listing my files the text file appears in my personal folder I can then search within the text file Edit menu FindTo list the whole of C drivedir CS gtCIansFolderfilestxt
ROB said: Might be worth a look herewwwbigbangenterprisesdeend I have used a freeware version of this on XP for years Never had a problem
Nulmany said: I never trust free downloads like Easy Duplicate finder when they dont tell you how much use you get out of teh trial part a measly 10 deletions and dont tell you the price until you register adn they have your details Come one PC Advisor you should challenge that sharp practice
clive said: Easy duplicate file finder has a limit of 13 files before you have to register and pay
Gary Gemmell said: I would avoid Soluto it causes a lot of problems not the least with removal as some users have describe din detail over on the tech forumsBetter wait until they have ironed out the issues
Rodders465 said: Good informative article which will be useful to lots of users
Always Necessary for Home user said: As these customers invariably cannot afford the professional versions provided on office PC laptopkeep up the good workWhy replace a PC when you can clean-up and keep for longer